THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS TEACHER RESOURCE GUIDE

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

TEACHER RESOURCE GUIDE

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

WWW.PRESIDENTLINCOLN.

INTRODUCTION

I

n July 1863, Union and

Confederate forces met

in battle outside the small

market town of Gettysburg,

Pennsylvania.

For three

days, under the hot summer

sun, the bloodiest fight of the

war raged on. In the end,

51,000 men died on the battlefield. On November 19,

1863, President Lincoln was

invited to make a few remarks at the dedication of

the battlefield as a national

cemetery. The main speaker,

Edward Everett, spoke for

two hours before Lincoln

took the stage. His speech

lasted only a few minutes. In

it, he reminded the audience

of the sacrifices made by

America¡¯s forefathers; he

honored the men who had

died on the battle field at

Gettysburg; he challenged

America to continue to fight

for unity and

equality as put

forth in the

Declaration of

Independence;

he painted the

war in global

and epic proportions; and

he redirected

the war¡¯s purpose as a battle to end slavery.

LESSON 1: UNDERSTANDING THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

GRADE 5-8

Objectives

Materials

? Name three important concepts Lincoln laid out in the Gettysburg Address.

? Gettysburg Address broken down

into sentences (see Procedure)

? Apply word analysis and vocabulary skills to comprehend selections.

? Define unfamiliar vocabulary using a dictionary or thesaurus.

? Apply reading strategies to improve understanding and fluency.

? Classify information from primary sources to form generalizations about the Civil War and democracy.

? Hypothesize the primary theme of the Gettysburg Address.

PROCEDURE

1.

Divide students into ten groups. Assign each group a sentence from the Gettysburg

Address.

?

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation,

conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

?

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so

conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.

?

We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of

that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might

live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

?

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow

this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far

above our poor power to add or detract.

? Translation Evaluation Worksheet

(in this lesson plan)

? Understanding the Gettysburg Address Worksheet (in this lesson

plan)

Page 2

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

PROCEDURE (CONTINUED)

?

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they

did here.

?

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here

have thus far so nobly advanced.

?

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion

?

to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion

?

that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God,

shall have a new birth of freedom ¨C

?

and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

2.

Working together and using their own words, each group will create a ¡°translation¡± of what Lincoln

meant. Students will use dictionaries and/or a thesaurus to determine word meanings. Students will

provide the teacher with their finished translation.

3.

Have each group read their translation to the class. The class will ¡°grade¡± each group using the

Translation Evaluation Worksheet.

4.

Create a ¡°translation¡± of the entire Gettysburg Address to pass out to students.

5.

After students have had time to review the ¡°translation,¡± ask them to complete the Understanding the

Gettysburg Address Worksheet.

6.

Ask students to hypothesize on the main theme of the Gettysburg Address. Discuss as a class.

LESSON 2: THE LANGUAGE OF THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

Objectives

GRADE 8-12

Materials

?

Identify at least three key themes of the Gettysburg Address.

?

Develop a persuasive speech that can be presented orally or in written format in 267 words or less.

?

Identify the various literary devices including grammatical parallelism, antithesis, alliteration, and repetition and

use them appropriately in an oral or written speech.

?

Students will analyze the effectiveness of the literary devices employed in the Gettysburg Address.

?

Gettysburg Address (in this

lesson plan)

?

Literary Tools Worksheet (in

this lesson plan)

?

Internet access

?

Paper, pencils, pens

INTRODUCTION

T

he Gettysburg Address

has endured as one of

the most important documents in U.S. history. What

makes this speech so meaningful and why have the words

endured long after Abraham

Lincoln¡¯s delivery?

Attending and listening to lengthy public speeches

was common entertainment

during the nineteenth century

and Edward Everett, keynote

speaker at the dedication, was

one of the most famous orators of the time. Abraham

Lincoln, on the other hand,

was invited only a few weeks

before the ceremony, to deliver ¡°a few appropriate remarks.¡± There are many leg-

ends regarding how Lincoln

devised his address, but most

modern scholars believe he

researched his subject and

wrote his thoughts, if not a

first draft, before he left

Washington. One misconception was that Lincoln wrote

the address on the back of an

envelope as he was traveling

to Gettysburg. But Lincoln

Continued page 5

NAME:________________________________________________

TRANSLATION EVALUATI ON WORKSHEET

Use the form below to evaluate each translation written by your classmates.

1.

Read the translation as written on the board.

2.

Copy the translation below.

3.

Listen to the translation as it is read to you.

4.

Record your evaluation below.

Translation:

Circle the appropriate answer:

1.

The group wrote the sentence on the board and:

I understand what was written on the board.

2.

I do not understand what was written on the board

The group read the translation and:

It helped me understand it

Questions I would like to ask the group or the teacher:

My comments:

It did not help me understand it

NAME:___________________________________

UNDERSTANDING THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS WORKSHEET

Multiple Choice: Circle the letter of the best answer

to rewrite each group of words.

1.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on

this continent a new nation,

a. 27 years ago some people made a new country that brought us

together

b. 87 years ago some people made a new country that brought us

together

c. 27 years ago our relatives made a new country that brought us

together

2.

a.

b.

c.

conceived in liberty,

based on the idea of freedom

born in a free country

taken from a free country

3.

and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created

equal.

a. and made sure the song was the same as all others

b.

c.

and believed that all people are the same

4.

a.

b.

c.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war,

and written to make sure that everyone would get the same

things.

Now we are fighting a war between the states

Now we are planning a war

No we are politely debating

5.

testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and

so dedicated, can long endure.

a. Testing if any country can survive forever

b.

Trying to see if we or any country who believes in that idea can

continue to exist

6.

a.

b.

c.

7.

8.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living

and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our

poor power to add or detract.

a. But in the bigger picture, we cannot make this place holy because

the men who died here already did.

b. But in the bigger picture we cannot build here because people died

here and it would be disrespectful.

c. But in a larger sense, we should not honor people who fight in

wars.

9.

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say

here, but it can never forget what they did here.

a. The world doesn¡¯t care about this place but the men who fought

here will always remember.

b. People won¡¯t remember this ceremony but they will remember

the men who fought and died here.

10. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly

advanced.

a. We need to dedicate this cemetery and make it look nice to honor

these men.

b. We who are still alive need to promise to continue to fight for the

ideas that these men died for.

11. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full

measure of devotion

a. We have to promise to make this cemetery nice and remember

these men.

b. We need to promise that we will work on the great job ahead of

us--to remember the dead we will increase our effort to save the ideas

that they died for.

12. that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have

We are standing on an important battlefield of that war.

died in vain

a. that we promise that the men who died here died for a good reason

b. that we find out if the dead died terrible deaths

People are coming to fight with us here.

c.

We are met on a great battlefield of that war.

People are coming to meet us here.

We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final

resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation

might live.

a. We have come to say that part of this field is holy because it is a

final resting place for those who died here so that our country can

continue to exist.

b. We have come here to create a place where soldiers can rest

because they fought so hard for our country.

that we make sure other people don¡¯t die here

13. that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom

a. that our country, under God¡¯s blessing, shall have a new form of

government

b. that our country, under God¡¯s blessing, shall be reborn in freedom

c.

that we will become a really religious country

14. and that government of the people, by the people, for the

people, shall not perish from the earth.

a. and that one government of lots of people should spread all over

the earth

b. and that a government of people cannot exist on this earth

c.

and that the idea that all the people should be involved in making

their own rules and laws for themselves won¡¯t be destroyed.

Page 5

WWW.PRESIDENTLINCOLN.

actually had had four and one

half months to gather his

thoughts and put pen to paper

after the battle. Lincoln did

not accept many public invitations to speak and he regarded this as a unique opportunity to explain the revolutionary

transition he envisioned for

the country¡ªthe new birth of

freedom and equality under

law.

Lincoln, careful writer and serious thinker, used

this opportunity to redirect

the nation¡¯s attention toward

the war¡¯s long term goals. He

did not use the words

"Ge tty sburg," " slave ry,"

" C o n f e de ra te , ¡° So u th ,"

¡°Battle,¡± ¡°Cemetery,¡± or

"Union." Instead of bringing

up divisive issues and narrowly defining his speech, he

spoke in abstract terms. Instead of delivering an angry

diatribe against the Confederacy, as Everett had done, Lincoln emphasized healing the

country and working toward

the ideals laid out in the Declaration of Independence.

Lincoln¡¯s address

lasted only a few minutes. He

used only 267 words in ten

sentences. Not strictly a poem, he nevertheless used

poetic devices to increase the

power of his words. So perfect was Lincoln¡¯s speech, that

the great orator Everett, requested a copy of it from

Lincoln saying, ¡°I should be

glad if I could flatter myself

that I came as near to the

central idea of the occasion in

two hours as you did in two

minutes.¡±

Lincoln employed

many rhetorical devices in his

talent with words, but his

mature speeches are especially characterized by grammatical parallelism, antithesis,

alliteration, and repetition,

and he used all four strategies

in his brief address at Gettysburg. Although public reaction to the speech was divided along partisan lines, eventually the Address was recognized for its greatness and

poetry. Today, the Gettysburg Address is universally

recognized as one of the

most moving expressions of

the democratic spirit ever

spoken.

PROCEDURE

1.

Using the Literary Tools

Worksheet have students identify the unifying structures of Lincoln¡¯s speech.

2.

Discuss as a class, comparing the examples

found.

3.

Working individually or

in pairs, use one of the

ideas in the Gettysburg

Address to create a persuasive speech. The

speech should be modeled on the c o n c i s e

presentation of ideas

found in Lincoln¡¯s speech

which are:

?

The enduring quality of

our nation.

?

The idea that in the U.S.

¡°All men are created

equal.¡±

?

Bravery and sacrifice will

be remembered forever.

?

¡°That this nation under

God shall have a new

birth of freedom.¡±

?

¡°Government of the

people by the people and

for the people shall not

perish from the earth.¡±

3.

Have each student present their speech to the

class, or create a scrap

book of the speeches for

the classroom or to post

online.

Literary Tools Worksheet Answer Key (you may find more)

Parallelism

Antithesis

Conceived in liberty, dedicated Living, dead

to the proposition

Little note, long remember

That nation, that war, that field

What we say here, what they did

So conceived, so dedicated

here

Alliteration

Fourscore,

forth

Repetition

founding,

fathers, New nation, that nation, any

nation

New nation

So conceived, so dedicated

Continent, conceived

We are engaged, we are met,

we have come

Can not dedicate, can not con- Add, Detract

World will

secrate, can not hallow

Gave their lives, Nation might Note nor

Little note, long remember

live

We here highly

What we say here, what they

Of the people, by the people, for

did here

the people, perish

To the unfinished work, to the

great task, to that cause

That these dead, that this nation

Of the people, by the people for

the people

We cannot dedicate, we cannot

consecrate, we cannot hallow

Of the people, by the people for

the people

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